


The Love That You And I Once Had

by ravenclaw_ramblings



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: Canon Compliant, During Canon, F/M, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Overprotective Demeter (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Persephone Goes Willingly With Hades (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, The wind is kind of personified as a character here, because that's what I mean, but when it says the wind spoke just assume its the fates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26410480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenclaw_ramblings/pseuds/ravenclaw_ramblings
Summary: Hades and Persephone were happy once. When everything was fresh and new, and the factory floors were still centuries away. Before Eurydice came to Hadestown, and before Orpheus came for her. Before the walls, and the workers. They were in love. And the world sang for them.Or, a story of Hades and Persephone through the years.
Relationships: Eurydice & Hermes (Hadestown), Eurydice & Persephone (Hadestown), Eurydice/Orpheus (Hadestown), Hades/Persephone (Hadestown), Hermes & Orpheus (Hadestown), Hermes & Persephone (Hadestown), Orpheus & Persephone (Hadestown)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Prologue

Hades and Persephone were happy once.

When everything was fresh and new, and the factory floors were still centuries away.

Before Eurydice came to Hadestown, and before Orpheus came for her.

Before the walls, and the workers.

They were in love. And the world sang for them.

Hades was a young king, the king of the underworld, and Persephone ran barefoot in the fields.

The Fates spoke the words, and their story set in motion.

The story of Hades and Persephone. 


	2. Early Days

Persephone hummed quietly to herself. The warm sun beat down on her tanned skin, and illuminated the waterfall of her chocolate hair as it cascaded freely down her back. The garden was quiet, almost silent, except for the cheerful chirps of birds, and the sound of the wind running playfully through the long grass. A bloom of bright red caught her eye, standing alone in a patch of bright green, and she strolled over. Bending down to inspect it, she huffed in an attempt to blow the rogue strands of hair out of her face.

_Mama was right. You really should cut it sometime soon, Kore._

The flower was some kind of a carnation. It's petals were a vibrant scarlet, almost glowing in the sun, coming alive like a flame.

_I don't remember planting that._

Carefully, she plucked the flower, adding it to the bouquet she was gathering to take back and decorate her room. Arranging them was usually the highlight of her day. She would sometimes rearrange them everyday, sometimes more than once. It sounded sad, sure, but Persephone was used to it. Her mother Demeter was a little too protective sometimes. Persephone was barely allowed past the walls of their garden, and though rather large, it still seemed like a prison of sorts at times. The orchard of trees she had grown just outside those walls were like her own personal sanctuary.

 ** _There is someone there,_ **the wind whispered in her ear. **_Look up and see._**

A quick glance up revealed only the stranger's shadow, dark and brooding, even against the shade of the tree canopies. 

**_Someone watches from the shadows, Kore. He is in your orchard, your sanctuary._ **

_No shit,_ she thought. _I'd already figured that one out. Doesn't take a genius._

Still, Persephone was curious about this mysterious stranger and his shadow. Perhaps she should have left it alone, like Mama would have advised. But fighting her curiosity had never been a talent the goddess possessed. In seconds, her choice was made.

"I can see you, you know," she called out. "You don't exactly blend in."

No response. So she tried again. 

"Who's there?" Silence again. She sighed, beginning to feel slightly nervous at the lack of noise. "Look, I'm not mad or anything, I just want to know."

Then the shadow moved. It came out of the darkness created by the thick cover of the fruit trees, and into the sunlight. Persephone braced herself as it revealed-

A boy. No, he was more like a young man. His blonde hair was styled and pristine, and he was dressed finely, in the kind of suit that you never really saw around these parts. And his eyes- His eyes were striking, a pale, icy blue. But they weren't cold. In fact, they weren't even looking at her. They were fixed on the soft ground beneath him, and a blush of pink had found its way onto his extraordinarily pale face. And suddenly, Persephone felt confident enough to ask him, "Who are you?"

The question seemed to snap him out of his bashful stance. His head shot up, and then he straightened his jacket- _how is he wearing a jacket in this heat?_ she wondered- before finally meeting her gaze with those captivating eyes.

"I don't have to answer to you," he said, but the words sounded half-hearted and insincere, like he was unsure of himself. 

"Well, technically, you are trespassing on my mother's land, so I have every right to ask your name." A sigh escaped him. 

"I am Hades, King of the Underworld."

~~~

Persephone almost laughed. She had heard of him, of course- who hadn't?- but the stories she had heard were about the great and terrible Hades, God of Death, and King of Souls. Despite his claims, this boy, however finely dressed and enticing he looked, could not be the Hades of her mother's tales.

Taking a second to compose herself, she spoke.

"No you're not."

"What, you were expecting me to show up and kill everyone?"

"Well, kind of. Isn't that what you do?"

"Ah." A small smile crept onto his pale face. 

"What?"

"Common misconception."

"What is?"

"I don't kill people. People die, yes, but not at my hand. I just preside over their souls."

"Right." Persephone grinned. "Well, shouldn't you be down there, _presiding over souls_ , instead of talking to me?"

"Yes."

"Why aren't you?"

"Honestly?" She nodded. "Because you are at least fifty times more interesting than dead people."

A laugh finally escaped her. "Well, I'm definitely fifty times more alive than them." His cold eyes seemed to warm as he laughed with her.

"Well, you know who I am. Might I be so bold as to ask for your name?"

"Persephone. Daughter of Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest." She stuck out her hand over the wall. "My friends call me Kore."

"And are we friends?" Hades enquiried, seemingly shy again.

"We could be." Persephone hopped over and sat down on the stone wall that surrounded the garden. She patted the space next to her. "Come on."

~~~

"Are you serious?" He stared like she had just asked him to jump over the wall into a pool freezing cold water.

"Oh, come _on_!" She rolled her eyes. "A tiny speck of dirt on your designer three-piece won't kill you!" Persephone joked. He raised an eyebrow, but took a seat beside the girl. She giggled a little. "See. It's not so bad, is it?" 

Hades met her eyes with a grin and waited for a second, before clutching at his chest. 

"Oh, Gods! You've killed me, Kore! How will I ever recover?" he declared dramatically.

"You're insane."

"You're confident."

"How so?"

"To tell the God of Death that he's insane."

"Touché." The two went silent for a moment, before Hades spoke again.

"Your garden's beautiful."

"Well, technically, it's my mother's garden. I have been working on it a lot recently, though. But, yeah, thank you." Persephone blushed, both at the compliment, and the feeling that she was rambling.

_Keep it together, Kore. Just because he's handsome, you're losing your cool. It probably doesn't mean anything, anyway._

"Why are you blushing? Do people not give you compliments very often?"

"What?" She was pulled out of her thoughts suddenly. "Oh. Well, I don't exactly meet a lot of people. My mother isn't exactly a people person."

"So I've heard."

"You've heard? What do you mean?"

"Gods talk, Kore. Especially about the ones who aren't there. Demeter being stubborn and staying away from Olympus makes her a prime target."

"She talks about them too, you know."

"Really?" He sounded almost intrigued, and practically amused by this. "I wonder what she has to say."

"Well, she warned me to stay away from all of it. That most gods are not to be trusted."

"What about me?"

"You don't want to know what she says about you."

"Do you believe her?"

"Before, yes. But now, I'm not sure. You'll have to prove her wrong."

As Hades opened his mouth to respond, the two of them heard a shout.

_"Kore?"_

Persephone's eyes widened.

"I have to go." She climbed off the wall, back into the garden, and turned to go. 

"Wait!"

She looked back at him. "Yes?"

"Can I see you again?"

"Perhaps."

"How will I prove your mother wrong if I don't come back?"

"Fair enough." Taking the bouquet she had collected earlier off the wall, she pulled out the red carnation and gave it to him. "Here."

"What is it?" he asked her. 

"A reason to remember me, Hades, King of the Underworld."

With that, she turned and hurried back inside. 

_"As if I could ever forget,"_ Hades muttered to himself, before preparing to go back down to his domain. 


End file.
